Boosting exports: 10 policy priorities

Despite recent stabilisation efforts, Pakistan's economic outlook remains constrained by a persistent structural weakness: limited and narrowly based exports. For an economy of over 250 million people, reliance on remittances and episodic capital inflows cannot substitute for a durable export-led growth model. Sustained improvements in productivity, employment, and external balance require a systematic reorientation of policy towards export competitiveness. International experience suggests that successful export growth is rarely the result of isolated incentives. It emerges from consistent policy frameworks that align exchange rate management, energy pricing, taxation, capital allocation, skills development, and public-sector incentives. The following 10 priorities consolidate these elements into an integrated policy approach.